1. What looming hostility inherent within the setting unexpectedly comes into conflict with the heroic motivation, threatening to worsen over time?

Be the GM first:Story Cube: treeEncounter: enemy pursues new goals & enemy takes action against unsuspecting victims Place: La Piazza Avanti, morningA busy morning in the piazza is suddenly disrupted by an attack on the townsfolk by rabid phanatons! The normally peaceful little tree-dwellers are wild-eyed and foaming at the mouth, clearly infected by something that has caused them to become viciously aggressive! [Improvised rule: anyone bitten three times by a phanaton is infected by whatever they've got.] Be the PCs next:Orsini, Ysabel, and Don Pantaloni immediately come to the aid of the townspeople. Guglio takes a little longer as he is in the clock shop immersed in conversation with Stefano about the bust of the Dwarven Moon Goddess. Don Pantaloni tries to talk to the creatures in Elvish, but the critters respond only in cackling gibberish. Orsini and the others have no choice but to put down the phanatons. They do so reluctantly. Fortunately, the most damage taken by any of the heroes is two bites.

Be the GM once more:However, one of the townsfolk was bitten three times. [This actually occurred during the battle on the phanatons' turn and is not the result of any retroactive storytelling.] She is [50/50 gender - rolled female] Liliana [Obvious Traits: padlock/bouncing ball/parachute], a bound servant temporarily working for Count Cabravino; she is an orphan from nowhere in particular who has an extraordinary capacity for thinking her way out of predicaments. The Count is quite fond of the young woman and values her intelligence. She is like a daughter to him, and he is clearly moved as she immediately falls ill and feverish from the infection passed on to her by the phanaton bites. Liliana is taken by the priests of The Protector to their church in the piazza to be healed.

2 What overtly troubling event remotely tied to the results of Question 1 occurs, confirming that something seriously adverse to the heroic motivation is afoot?

Be the GM first:Story Cube: lightbulb Encounter: intrigue Place: The Church of The Protector, la Piazza Avanti, later that nightDuring the night, the clerics continue trying to restore Liliana, but there is something within the infection that is preventing the girl from being cured. As they continue in vain to improve her condition, they begin to feel a dimming of their powers almost as if Liliana or the infection or both are somehow preventing their access to The Protector

Be the PCs next:Ysabel alerts Orsini and the others to the plight of her fellow priests. Guglio knows nothing about such conditions, but Don Pantaloni is aware of strange spell-like sicknesses that mutate into profane perversions of nature. Whatever Liliana has contracted, its source is pure evil.

Be the GM once more:The priests of The Protector beseech Ysabel and her friends to seek out the source of the infection so that they can prepare a proper remedy and ritual to heal Liliana.

3. What elements of the results of Questions 1 and 2 suddenly get twisted in a surprising manner, increasing the danger to the heroic motivation?

Be the GM first:Story Cube: bookEncounter: betrayal & combat Place: The Church of The Protector, la Piazza Avanti, same timeBefore Orsini and the others can leave the church to fulfill the request, one of the priests who had been trying to heal Liliana begins speaking in gibberish for a moment. She shakes off the odd expression, then claims that she had briefly forgotten her own language! The other priests, too, suddenly realize that they've forgotten some things, almost as if something had torn the pages out of their memories! Suddenly, Liliana mutters, and, though the girl still appears unconscious and is clearly very ill, she summons an Imp within the very heart of the Church of The Protector!

Be the PCs next: Don Pantaloni realizes that the evil infection within Liliana is using the girl's innate cleverness to "spread" to others, taking their powers and mutating them! The Imp, not appreciating the elf's ability to explain things, attacks him first, striking him with its stinger. Guglio, never without silver, stabs the foul creature with jewelry of his own design (the same design originally rejected by his silversmith guild). Another stabbing sends the creature back to the plane of evil from whence it had come. Orsini immediately sends for Stefano and his sleep potion. They use some on Liliana to numb her mind so that the evil infection cannot use her...at least for a little while. Stefano only has enough to keep her in a deep sleep for one day.

Be the GM once more:The priests immediately remove Liliana from their church and bring her to the Count's palazzo. They argue with Count Cabravino about her fate, concerned that the only way to protect Avanti is to do to the girl what had to be done to the phanatons. If Orsini and the others cannot discover the source of this infection and bring back components for a ritual of cleansing in 24 hours, drastic measures will have to be taken, or all of Avanti may become infected...